Helping Entrepreneurs Create a Thriving Business and Life with Yoon Cannon

Hello and welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, where you can discuss, debate, and get advice on how to discover and shed the bitches of fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and negative mindsets so you can realize your dreams and life purpose and create and accelerate the riches you want in life. Join us here live every Tuesday at noon Eastern and dialogue with us at 818-572-2910. You can also chat with us at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch or share your stories on our website at sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to the fullest, it's not worth giving up the riches in life that you deserve. So call in now and let Bernadette Boas know what's holding you back.

818-572-2910. Good day, good day, good day, everyone. I hope you're having a fabulous, fabulous morning, noon, or night, depending upon where you are around the world. And I hope for those of you who are in the face of the storm coming through, I hope you're staying nice and safe and warm and off the streets. I was told, as many of you know, and our guest is even from Philadelphia, but as many of you know, my entire family is up in the Philadelphia area. And so I started reaching out to them saying, please keep me informed as to what's going on. In Atlanta here, we just got the brutal cold and wet weather, but I did know that they were threatening some significant snow and wind and whatnot. And I was pleased to hear this morning, although they weren't quite happy about all the hoopla, and all they really got was some sleet, which I guess, you know, is better than getting slammed with feet and feet and feet of snow. So wherever you are around the world, whatever conditions the weather might be, hopefully it's beautiful. Just always just think about being safe and sound when there is some crazy Mother Nature activity going on. Charlie's loving it, so of course you know my pup Charlie, and he's a little rambunctious today, so he might say hello to you at some point in the program. But he's loving this cold, brisk weather because, as I've mentioned over and over again in the show, it's been a mild, mild, mild winter here in Atlanta. So actually, the fact that it's 40 is quite a shock to our systems, and I know that's probably not anywhere close to how cold it might be where you are. The other thing I just wanted to do a shout-out to, because I know I'm going to have a— several dozen of new listeners today, and that's because I had participated in a women's retreat over the weekend, and it was through my church. I just was looking for some connection, and we talk a lot about that here, whether it's connection in your business or in your life. The women of our CHIRP, as they call it, retreat over the weekend were fabulous, and they certainly provided me a lot of room to breathe and to feel and emote. I, you know, it's been a while since I've done that much crying of joy and laughter. It was all good. It was all good. So I just want to do a shout out to the Lovebugs, you know who you are, and the women of CHIRP. Thank you for just a very blessed and very soul-searching and very fun weekend. I don't know about you guys, but it was daylight savings time, which I have been, you know, talking to you and leading up to the big event, very happy that we were going to get a longer day to enjoy the outside and just enjoy kind of the sunlight. At the same time, I will say that I'm having a little difficult time catching up on my lost sleep as a result of the retreat and the lost hour. So you might also hear that I'm a little stuffed up and my throat's kind of on fire at the moment. So I shouldn't be talking as much as I always do, right? Anyway, so we'll just keep moving so I can actually turn the mic over, so to speak, in our great conversation with our guests. But it is spring, and I do want to highlight that. We are getting closer and closer to spring, which is a perfect time to kind of take a deep breath and tap into what it is that you really want out of not just spring and then summer and fall, but actually out of what it is you're working so hard to do in your business, in your career, in your life. So we're going to have a great conversation today to allow you to kind of spend some time thinking about that. At the same time, we do have some awesome guests rounding out the month coming up. So we will be talking to Gleb Sabersky, and remember, we said March was going to be very functional business talk. So not only about today's conversation, but Gleb is going to help you with decision-making, which is a key, key trait skill to have regardless of what aspect of your life you're working on is how to make important decisions, how to make logical decisions, how to make unemotional decisions. And then Edward Oh is going to talk with us about negotiation, another key aspect whether it's in your business, your career, or your life that you need to be able to smartly plan and then execute how to negotiate for whatever that is that you want. Car, relationship, even your, you know, your business dealings and your career advancement. So we've got a great lineup for you in the coming weeks, but today, today our guest is going to help you face and stop the fear and frustration of creating your dream business, and I'll even expand that to say your career because we have a lot of entrepreneurs and corporate professionals that listen in on the program. And her goal is going to be to help you no longer hold yourself back from pursuing and achieving those goals. So, what you're going to listen for and what you're going to learn on today's call— call or program is a 4-step fear-fighting formula that will help you unleash your inner rock star entrepreneur, intrapreneur if you're in the corporate world. 3 simple ways to replace those gremlins, as she calls them—we call them bitches here, but she calls them gremlins—with new thought patterns that empower you. And then 2 magic words that will help you diffuse the fears that are blocking your success. And then, you know, she is a power-packed individual, woman, coach, everything. So She doesn't stop there. She said, "A number one fastest way to gain the confidence to start creating your dream business." So those are all the things you're going to hear today and you're going to listen for. So we introduce some rich questions that you think about that pertains to this topic of conversation and you hold on to throughout our talk, and that way you'll— immediately kind of tune into something that you want to be addressing immediately. So your rich question today is, what is the one fear holding you back from pursuing, let alone achieving, your goal? What is that one gremlin, that one fear, and in our world, that one bitch, that could be holding you back from achieving your goals? And then rich tag with us. So the hashtags for today's conversation will be, of course, Shed the Bitch, but also will be Dream Business, and you might even want to throw in Mastermind should that kind of connect with you. All right? So we'll take a short break and then come back and do a powerful introduction of our guest for today who will be helping us to push through our fear and frustration so we can create— you can create the dream business or career that you want. So we'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business. Available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors: TSR Consulting, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to TSRConsulting.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email deborahparker@parkerhouseservices.com. Deborahparker78@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

I am so excited to have this conversation today with our top business growth expert, Yoon Cannon. She helps entrepreneurs boost sales, productivity, and profit so you can create thriving 6, 7, and 8-figure businesses. She knows what she's talking about. Since 1992, she has started, turned, teed, and sold 3 other businesses and has been featured in CNN, Money Magazine, Inc., Entrepreneur, Fortune Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and many more. Yun confesses she is both an accidental entrepreneur and at age 29 realized she became an accidental millionaire. June is also a wife and mother of 3 teenagers, and she lives outside of Philadelphia. Woohoo! My home state! Woohoo!

Welcome to the program. Oh, Bernadette, I'm very happy to be here today. Thanks for having me on your show. You are absolutely welcome.

I've been looking forward to this because For a woman who can start, grow, manage, and sell 3 businesses and be an accidental anything is just a rock star, as you say, that we need to and our audience needs to hear and learn from. So let me ask you something— excuse me, and I apologize for my cough. So tell me, what led you to becoming the coach that you are, accidental entrepreneur that you are and even that accidental millionaire.

Yes, yeah, I'd love to share that story. I really— it was an accident. I never had these goals and dreams to, you know, be a business owner, go into entrepreneur. I didn't even major in business in college, you know. I mean, when I was going to college, my dreams at that time were, you know, I pictured myself on Broadway, you know, acting in films. That's where my head was, you know? So, huge departure from what I ended up doing. So, I ended up— well, I started a marketing business at the time when I got out of college because it was really the fastest way I understood that I could make money. So, then my goal was to make enough money, therefore I could after that move to New York Then each year it just kept getting more interesting and more— I just loved it. I loved learning about marketing. I loved sales. I loved running a business. I just kept saying, "Ah, you know, I'll just do this one more year and then I'll go to New York." Then it was, "I'll do this for two more years and then do the starving artist thing." Then, of course, one year led to another. I finally realized, "I don't think I want to go to New York anymore. I really like what I'm doing here." Then fast forward, 2004, I went to a local conference and I spent 3 days with some small business owners. I realized that, gosh, they were so awesome. They shared their challenges and their struggles. I didn't realize how much they were struggling. And really dealing with unnecessary consequences, as I felt. People were making sacrifices that I didn't think they needed to make over 10 years, 20 years, 25 years, and I just wanted to make a difference, you know, in the lives of small business owners who may, you know, be sacrificing their personal life, their family life, you know, balancing work and family is always a huge challenge, and all in the name of trying to grow a successful business. I just felt that, hey, you can grow a successful business and not have to sacrifice your marriages or your children or any of your other life goals that you want to achieve. I really think the same goes, the same applies for your intrapreneurs listening who are highly motivated in the corporate workplace. We all share the same struggles as you go through different seasons of life. So that's where I really decided, "I want to pivot and I really want to dedicate my full-time energies to helping other entrepreneurs be able to create a thriving business and life that they love." So that's how I got started.

That's sweet. Okay, so you've kind of moved away from the starlight or the lights of Broadway idea.

Hahaha, yeah. As a young college kid, right? So, it has changed. Right. Exactly.

Well, I definitely want to hear about the fact that you do help entrepreneurs go through all stages of business growth and those different stages, which some people might be thinking, okay, what are the different stages of business growth? But predominantly, you really kind of get down into the fact that they need to address the fears that come up for them, and whether it's even thinking about starting or growing their business. So what do you see most out of the clients and the people that you work with as far as fears and the things that are really frustrating and stopping them from moving forward?

Yeah, absolutely. And by the way, when I think about these fears, I have also coached both the entrepreneurs and their they're leaders, you know, they're managers. So from the manager's perspective, they are, you know, they're not the entrepreneur themselves, they are more like the intrapreneur. And as I think about, you know, listening to the types of fears that people have shared with me, they really are the same, you know, on both sides of the fence. So, you know, I hear the imposter syndrome coming up a lot. And this is both from a startup entrepreneur to someone who's already, you know, had a business for 25 years and they're doing 8 figures in sales, let's say. And you would think, you know, at that level they shouldn't feel like the imposter syndrome, but, you know, at all levels of success, people still struggle with it. You know, specific fears like, oh my gosh, what if I can't—

Yeah? Could you elaborate on imposter before you go farther? Can you, for those that might not have heard that statement before or that fear before, could you elaborate on what you see as the imposter? Imposter syndrome? Sure, sure.

Yeah, the imposter syndrome could be anything from, you know, I see when a business is growing and they have to up-level their people, you know, and suddenly everybody's getting promoted to a higher-level position, you know, that new manager can absolutely struggle with the imposter syndrome because they might think, I've never managed a staff before. I've never managed a team before, you know, and what if they know that I have no idea what I'm doing, you know, and then you've got the 8-figure CEO who is thinking, oh my gosh, I've never had to take the company into this whole new way of doing business. We have to transform and we've got to keep up to what people are— what's working now, but I have no idea what I'm doing. And so that is again the imposter syndrome of— it's that fear factor that comes in and can really destroy, you know, it can destroy your effectiveness and your potential if it's not managed. So that's a big fear.

Yeah, what that really means, I want to break it down a little bit further, I'm sorry, but because I suffered from this and no one would have expected me to, but the imposter syndrome, is that not also that they don't feel like they deserve or are worthy or skilled enough or smart enough? To be in that position, to be in that role, and that's what, you know, what is really getting, you know, kind of coming up for them is those inner gremlins, as you call them, are those feelings of not being good enough or not being worthy enough or deserving enough?

I think a little bit of it. Some people are more on the side of not being worthy enough, not being good enough, and other people may tilt on the other spectrum with, "I'm not an expert enough. I'm not knowledgeable enough. I don't have enough of a track record." And they're comparing themselves, and this is big. They're comparing themselves to an icon in that particular thought leadership, let's say. And that's such a dangerous thing to do. When you start comparing yourself to other people, you're comparing your beginning to someone else's middle or their end. And that's not a fair comparison. And so that really sucks you into negative thinking, and the fears come up, and the worries, and the anxieties, where you want to be able to leverage your strength and empower yourself and really focus on the fact that you don't have to be— just give yourself permission. You don't have to be the world's leading expert in a certain subject matter. If you know just a little bit more, if you are a step or two ahead of the people that you are leading, then you're good. You know, you're good to go. Right. Right. And so that's all you need is that little margin to be able to help you, you know, manage your— reframe your expectations of yourself and what level of expertise that you think you have to be at. I think the other thing too is there's a lot of buy-in from people when you're okay just to be honest. To say, I've got a client I'm thinking of and they're doing 8 figures in sales and yet the 2 founders are absolutely new. They have no idea about online marketing and they're in that They're in an industry where they probably should know about it. And so they can be honest with their people and say, hey, we're learning this with you. And then they don't have to pretend that this is their area of expertise. And so having confidence in that and knowing what you are, where your core competencies are, and then also being transparent to say, Hey, we're learning this new thing along with you, and that's okay too. Right. Yep.

Oh, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. And don't you find that they have to be? Because first off, your employees are going to know if you're kind of not faking it per se, but you're doubting yourself, and then that affects them. Would you agree?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, I think it's— yeah, just be honest with where you're at, and but at the same time give yourself credit if you're, you know, depends on what you're talking about, what you're nervous about, you know, what subject matter. But if it is a subject that, yeah, you do know, certainly I think, you know, you don't want to compare yourself to someone else's middle or their end as far as your imposter syndrome. So yeah, there's a— people go through a lot of fears, you know, that are stopping them from their potential of what they can achieve.

Okay, but at the same time, people are going to hear, you know, hear you and they heard your bio, the fact that you've, you know, had 3 businesses of which you've sold, and they're not going to necessarily sit there and go, "Oh, well, Eun has these fears too," you know. But you must have experienced some fears in your whole evolution as well, correct?

Oh, sure, sure, a ton. Yeah, I, gosh, I mean, even starting from the beginning, my first business, I was only in my 20s, I was in my early 20s, and there was a time where I ran the pilot office at national headquarters for this company who had 300-some-odd offices. Locations. So my job was to test everything in the national headquarters, and I had to manage a bunch of people. And 90% of my team were men. And so, of course, I had that fear, oh my gosh, you know, who's going to take you seriously? Everyone's older than you. I had to overcome that fear. You know, I had to overcome the fear of who's going to take you seriously? This is the boys' club. You know, you're the only woman, and do you really think you can lead a bunch of men? And, you know, And also, by the way, I'm Korean. We had a heavy recruiting program in an area that was, I'd say, 96% Caucasian. And sure, you know, one person— now that I look back on it, listen to this— I thought about all my fears over the years, and I can only remember one person putting that fear in my ear. Oh! And yet, That would have— that started, you know, months or years of trying to keep it under control, or, you know, took me a while to overcome, let's say. But yeah, it didn't even occur to me. The thought never crossed my mind that I was not Caucasian and that would be a problem, you know. One person said that to me in the early years and thinking, "Oh, I don't know, are you going to have a hard time recruiting because I don't know if people can relate to you." that since your career. Oh wow. And like I said, it didn't even cross my mind, but once somebody said it, oh, then it became something that was running through my mind over and over again, you know, week after week. And finally, you know, I had to go through this same 4-step system to be able to help myself overcome the fears and learn to leverage your strengths. So we're all, you know, none of us immune. I don't think any of us are immune to fears. There are certain fears that maybe some people might have more, you know, they might be more prone to, where, you know, there was one where I did have a few people hackle me. I was opening up a new business and I started renovations on a 5,000-square-foot facility, and we were probably in renovations for 6 months, so all the construction guys pretty much every day were, you know, poking fun and saying, "Okay, so you're starting a business and you have no customers, you have no one working for you, and you're putting all this money into renovating." So yeah, I had to listen to that for 6 months, you know, and every time visiting the site. So sure, you know, but so that was an example where I guess I did— that one didn't really bother me as much. So, you know, we all have certain fears where we are more confident and it doesn't bother you as much, and then you have other ones that, you know, may be your Achilles heel and you've got to manage those gremlins.

Absolutely, absolutely. Well, and I want everybody, I want you to go to ParamountBusinessCoach.com, ParamountBusinessCoach.com, and I love those guests of ours who make it really easy as far as how you can Facebook with her and Twitter with her and LinkedIn with her. It's her name, Yoon Cannon, and then Paramount Business Coach. So I Googled both of those and found her everywhere. The woman is definitely tapped into all the key places. So that's Twitter is Yoon Cannon, LinkedIn obviously Yoon Cannon, and then even Facebook is Eun Cannon, so that's all you have to put in and then it attaches Paramount Business Coach. And go to her website, check out her resources, check out her programs while we continue talking and get kind of familiar with her because she calls you a rock star, but she's a rock star as well. So you mentioned, Eun, you mentioned your 4 steps 4 steps, and it actually is a 4-step fear fighting formula. I love that. It's like a power figure, 4-step fear fighting formula, which can help our listeners really unleash that inner rock star. So could you begin to share with us as we go through this conversation what those steps are, what that looks like, and what that means for our listeners?

Sure, sure, I'd love to. And by the way, just for our listeners who may not know anyone named Yun, let me spell that for you. O-O-N, N like Nancy, and Cannon, C-A-N-N-O-N. So Yun Cannon, that's how you spell it. So let me dive into the first couple of steps. First two steps are internal, and step 3 and 4 are external, as I would call it. So, you know, we all have fears. I've had them. I'm sure you've had your share of fears over the years. Oh yeah. You know, and these are the things that I've learned, and I'm a constant, you know, student. You know, over all these years of other leaders as well. So I'm a big believer of never stop learning. And so these are some of the skills I've picked up early on. So step 1 in my fear fighting formula is get clear on what you want. You know, when you start feeling the anxiety or worry, discouragement, you know, any of those negative emotions, when you start feeling that come upon you as far as, okay, you know it's getting in the way of you reaching the goal goals that you want to achieve in your career or your business, you know, you want to write down, get clear what you want, write down, you got to start with your why. You know, you've got to have a reason that's bigger than yourself to keep going, you know, when you feel like quitting. So when you have a day when something goes wrong, a project fails, a campaign fails, flops, you know, we all have them. I mean, Nothing has gone smoothly, 100% perfect every year for people. So you want to— first, you've got to expect that, right? But you want to get really drilled into your why. So what is that bigger reason that is motivating you? What is it about that keeps you doing what you do? And the second part of getting clear—

Before you move on from why though, What does that look like? I've had this asked of me. It's kind of like, what does that look like to somebody? Because they're like listening to us going, "Oh, why? Find your why." And they're like, "What the heck are these people talking about?" You know, so could you kind of articulate or kind of visualize, help us visualize what that might be for somebody?

Well, I'll give you an example of my why. You know, even though I have, gone into 4 different lanes of 4 different businesses I've started, it actually has never changed my why. You know, my driving motivator has always been in some form of aspect of wanting to change lives and wanting to make a difference in people's lives. And so early on when I was— when I had a marketing business and I had a bunch of managers and a bunch of salespeople on my team, Whether or not I made an extra whatever, you know, $20,000, $50,000, it didn't really matter how much extra income I was able to generate for myself. But what really motivated me was to push through the obstacles and the challenges is to make a difference in the lives of the people that I was working with, you know, to help them develop their their personal skills and their professional skills and help them develop, help them to hit their goals. That was really it. I couldn't hit my goals unless I could help them hit their goals. I just really got in tune with wanting to help them hit their goals. I'll give you another example. My second business, I had 30 teachers on my payroll. They were on faculty at a performing arts center. I knew how important— I mean, this was their livelihood. What drove me was I made sure we grew the business every year because they were counting on me. They were counting on me to not only share their talents but to provide for their family. That kept me motivated to continue to drive the business growth. Knowing what motivates you, as far as finding your why, you want to get clear on what your valuables are, what gets you What energizes you? What is it all about? It's really about— big corporations call it your core ideology. If you're a small business or an intrapreneur, it's really about your core valuables. So you want to get clear on what you believe. What is it that you believe? Write them down. My beliefs that I wrote down early on were things like success doesn't happen overnight. I wanted to really ingrain that in my people. I had to live it. If we were going through a campaign that was a fail, you can't just throw in the towel and give up. I have to demonstrate and lead by example that, "Hey, this is how you bounce back." Positive people aren't just positive when great things are happening. You've got to stay positive when negative things are happening. Things are happening, you know. And so write down what you, what you believe, what are the truths that you stand for. Because if you don't write them down, you'll fall for anything and you, you'll forget what your why is.

Okay, fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. Amen, sister. Yeah. And is that the complete step 1?

No, there was a few more points to step 1. So step 1 is 3 things, right? Start with your why, right? When I said get clear on what you want, start with your why and then go into the what. You know, what do you want your business to look like? What do you want your career track to look like? And that has to align with your personal life goals too. So what do you want your life to look like? What are your life goals? You know, what are your— what does your schedule look like? What do you want to do? Accomplish? What do you want to have time for? Maybe you've got volunteering goals and you want to, you know, mentor somebody and make a difference in the community. So you want to be very clear on what you want your business to look like and your life so they're in alignment. And the third part is who. So particularly for business owners, you know, who is your tribe? Who is the community of people you most want to help? And if you're an intrapreneur, you know, who are the people you are doing this for. So get clear. Get clear on what you want. So that's step 1. Step 2 is then, it's important that you write down every negative thought that shakes your self-confidence. And you know, we all have this inner dialogue that happens in the back of our minds and in your subconscious, and it's sneaky, you know, because it's like a broken record. It plays all the time, you know, and then different things will trigger it. And it's the first step in able to conquer this and overcome it is to bring to awareness, you know, what is it that's running through your head. And you'd be surprised, Bernadette, when I go through this both with executives and entrepreneurs, you'd be surprised how many people haven't actually done that step of writing down, you know, what are those thoughts that come into your head and then what is it that triggers it.

So is it because they're scared to face it or acknowledge it or admit it?

Honestly, I think it's just because people are too busy, you know, they're just too busy of go, go, go, go, go, you know, I work with a lot of Type A personalities and there's, there's not a lot of people who really take pause and think about what they're thinking about. Right? Right? Okay. So you want to— and I would say, hey, grab an accountability partner and schedule a weekly time slot where you can both evaluate this and ask each other what your thoughts have been throughout the week. So it's important that you think about what you're thinking about. Just the way as we are that careful with, you know, what you eat. You are what you eat, right? And here, you are what you think. So you have to be careful what you're putting in your body for your health. This is the same thing. You want to be careful what thoughts you're allowing to come across your mind and what thoughts you're dwelling on. But you really got to write it down to see it black and white on paper. The actual way that it's being articulated in your mind. So those are the first 2 steps of the 4-step formula.

Okay, and what I found interesting—

Would you like to know the others? Yeah? Pardon me? Oh, I was just saying, would you like to know the others?

Well, can't you tell she's a radio host too, everybody? Well, no, because what I What I want to make sure of is, okay, so the step 1, get clear, is really kind of how I summarize that. The why, the what, and the who, right? And then step 2 is writing down the negative thoughts, and those negative thoughts is what you call gremlins, is that correct?

Yep. Yeah, I refer to them as gremlins, yep. Okay, I love that.

No, that's awesome, because I pictured that as you were kind of describing things and you were saying how kind of they just attach and they just can be so annoying So I imagine these little, these little gremlins. Yes, we definitely want to hear about steps 3 and 4. However, suspense. We're going to take a brief break and when we get back, yes, I want to know how our listeners can replace their negative thoughts into positive ones. And remember, she said that steps 1 and 2 are internal and steps 3 and 4 are external. Did I get that right, Eun?

Yes, you did.

When we get back, briefly, we're going to ask her to get into steps 3 and 4. You're digesting steps 1 and 2. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette Boas' book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors, TSR Consulting, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate-sized clients. Clients. Go to TSRConsulting.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium-sized businesses. Email Deborah Parker at deborahparker78@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at MediaRelations@SheddingTheBitch.com. .com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everybody, I am talking to the top business growth expert, Eun Cannon, and she was sharing with us her 4-step fear-fighting formula, which I find fabulous. And she discussed with us steps 1 and 2, so if you're just joining us, go back and you can listen to that during the replay. And now we're going into what she calls the external steps 3 and 4. So Eun, if you could tell us, because this— I think this is all about replacing one's negative thoughts into positive ones. How? How? Please tell us how we do that.

Yes, absolutely. And actually, this is still part of the internal— this is actually still part of Step 2. So how they can replace their negative thoughts into positive ones, you know, there is a magic 2-word test. You know, if there was— if you could just do abracadabra, you know, and toss some magic words, these are the two magic words that you can keep asking yourself, and those two words would be, "So what?" Right? And so when you write down those negative thoughts, okay, well, what if this happens? What if that happens? And, you know, the ones I hear all the time are things like, "What if I can't pay myself? What if I fail and I don't hit my goals? What if this doesn't work for me? What if no one says yes to my offers? You know, what if I can't make payroll? What if I don't I can never figure out this technology stuff. You know, all sorts of what-ifs. So you do the so-what test and you write that down. You answer that for yourself. So what? So what if no one says yes to your offers? You know, what's the worst thing that can happen? So what if, you know, it doesn't work for you right now? What's the worst that can happen? You know, there's always a plan B. There's always a plan C. So do the magic 2-word test. And then I would say is rewrite your new beliefs. You know, because those fears stem from limiting beliefs. When we talked earlier about the imposter syndrome, they really stem from these limiting beliefs like, "I have to be the expert in XYZ," or, "I am not this," or, "I am not that, and therefore I'm not going to succeed." So, you've got to rewrite those limiting beliefs into new beliefs. The example we talked about earlier is saying, "Well, I don't have to be the world's leading expert on XYZ subject. I just need to be a few steps ahead of my clients," or, "I just need to be a few steps ahead of my team." So rewrite those limiting beliefs. I'll tell you the third part to that of helping you overcome these negative thoughts would be you've got to renew your mind daily. This is not a once-and-done thing. It's got to be an ingrained habit. You know, so in the mornings, throughout the day, I mean, it depends on how often you're having, you know, these negative thought attacks, right? But renew your mind, have multiple ways that you can do that. So when I said, you know, write it down, so you may have it on Post-it stickers throughout, you know, your day. Maybe it's your car rearview mirror, you know, maybe it's your bathroom mirror, maybe it's the refrigerator. So putting Post-it stickers throughout to remind yourself, you know, maybe you need to record yourself reading those new thoughts and listen to it every day. Listen to those new thoughts because you've got to rewire your beliefs. And the other point real quick I want to make before we get into step 3 is manage your expectations. And we did, you know, talk a little bit about that earlier, and I think that's important for people to attach that to their strategy on how do you replace those negative thoughts into positive ones. Well, you also got to manage your expectations. You can't compare your beginning to someone else's middle or end. So those are some key strategies. Very nice. And you just need to put it into practice and be very consistent with it. You know, it's a new way. It's a new habit. You know, it didn't take overnight to acquire those negative thoughts. Exactly. You know, I'm sure they've been simmering in the background for years. So it's— you've got to combat it with renewing your mind daily. So— Can I get into step 3 and 4 now, now the external ones? Absolutely. Yeah, sure. All right, so we talked about getting clear on what you want. We talked about writing down your negative thoughts, replacing it with positive ones, and renewing your mind daily. So step 3 would be validate your business model and your offers. And if you're an intrapreneur, it may be, you know, if you're working on having to develop a new plan. Whether you're in charge of whatever department, right? You've got to validate your business model or validate your plan, and you need to get some feedback on that. And so that's going to also boost your confidence. So some of this is like an art, some of it's a science, and this is where we just have to— you want to— you can't come up with something all by yourself, right? So for those of you who are entrepreneurs, you want— take your business model, you know, find a mentor, someone who's already been successful in that. In that industry or with that— using that business model or similar one. And so find a qualified professional business coach or business consultant, you know, if you're looking at your business model and get some feedback to validate that this model is work— is going to work. This is a good sound strategy and that you can validate your offers as well. So those are the two core things for entrepreneurs is validate your business model and validate your offers.— and that's a critical piece in helping you boost confidence, boost your confidence in helping you achieve and create the business that you want to create. Does that make sense?

Is that everything for step 3? I'm concerned that I'm cutting you off too fast. Okay, so let me ask you something though. Let me ask you something though because I want to make sure— we kind of tie them back to Step 1 and 2. So when— are you saying that as they get to know themselves better, which to me is what Step 1 and 2 screams, is you're getting to know yourself and what you stand for and what's important to you, and, and also those negative thoughts, and yet you're also rewriting new beliefs. So are you saving Step 3 because now you have kind of a really good grounding on the internal mechanics, so to speak, and some confidence is being built up and new ideas are coming and all that kind of good stuff to where now you might want to validate whether or not the business model is congruent with you.

You want to validate if your business model is going to work, right? If it's a sound business model, if it's a strategic and it's— It makes sense, right? So for an entrepreneur, that's what we would be referring to. Now if you're an intrapreneur, you're probably in charge of something, right? So you're in charge of, hey, come up with a plan to accomplish this goal. And, and so you want to seek some outside professional expert feedback to get that validation, you know. And that also is a big piece of boosting your confidence. So it's not just Hey, think about playing in a soccer tournament. You know, I have two boys who played competitive soccer. I mean, it's not the entire picture. They're going to go into a tournament and expect to win. Sure, it's important that they have their mindset, you know, it's important that they have their head screwed on straight as far as they believe they can do this, but the other part would be— Right. Strategy. What's the play you're going to do? Have you been practicing your ball skills and your possession skills? Do you know who you're playing against? So that's the external part that we want to apply to our businesses and to our careers in the context of what is the big, hairy, audacious goal that you're trying to achieve and whatever whatever goal you're trying to achieve in your business or your career, you have to come up with a plan to achieve that goal. So, for the entrepreneur, that plan is typically your business model, but for the intrapreneur, you know, it's your plan. So, you want to get feedback, expert feedback on validating that plan. Is it a sound plan? And that's going to also give you confidence. That's another piece. Because if you work a plan, if the plan's bad, you know, it's not you. So you don't want to be beating yourself up that, oh my gosh, you know, you're a failure because the plan failed. Well, it was just not a good plan to begin with, you know? And so think about that soccer team, you know, if they lost the game, you know, don't leave the field beating yourself up thinking, oh my gosh, I'm a failure as a soccer player. You may have been working, trying to execute a bad plan for that particular— Right. You really have to look at this from both angles, from what's going on as far as your thoughts, but also what's going on strategically. So yeah, step 3 is pretty short.

No, that's sweet and yet powerful. It might be short, but it's also very powerful. So it's got to lead— and I can't even guess— to step 4. What would the final step really embody?

This is— yeah, so step 4, this is the number one way for listeners to gain the confidence to start creating your dream business or your dream career. This is step 4. This is the key to self-confidence. And that really is to be prepared. So if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not sure if something's going to work, you're afraid of failing, well, the key to that is being prepared. So if you've got to deliver a presentation next week, and imagine if there was a $5 million sale at stake and you had zero preparation. For that presentation. You know your confidence level at landing that sale is going to be pretty close to zero if you've had zero preparation. So the fastest way to gain confidence is step 4, equip yourself with the training and tools to succeed. So preparation, a lot of it is get the training that you need. You know, get the tools that you need to help you be the most prepared you could possibly be. And if you think about this, Bernadette, you know, it's a no-brainer when it comes to our kids. You know, when I was a kid, I grew up taking dance and piano lessons, and I remember, you know, I was in competitions, and my piano teacher, when she put me in a competition, we would prepare for it a year in advance. And Phase 1 was learn the piece. Phase 2 was practice and improve the piece. Phase 3 was practice performing the piece in front of other audiences before we got to Phase 4, which was competition day. And so we do that. We have this mindset with giving our kids the training and the tools they need to succeed and hit their goals, whether it's in music or science or sports, you know, that they're getting training with their coaches, practicing 2, 3 times a week oftentimes. You know, they're developing and honing their skills. And I think as entrepreneurs and in your career, we forget to apply that same success principle to ourselves. So, what you think about, you know, What area could you really excel and boost your confidence if you got the training and the tools that you needed? So you may not even need to go back to college and get an MBA. You know, there's lots of training around in different areas. But what you're going to say, Bernadette?

Well, wouldn't you say that tool is also— because I loved your analogy of the kids and the sport and the coach. So if you translated that into business, you're saying that they should have that professional that we spoke about in step 3, you know, whether— you know, a coach, a mentor. They should have the tools being probably anything that they need, you know, in whatever area that they're working on, and then the training to go along with it. Would that be a good idea? That would be ideal.

Kind of round out— Yeah, absolutely. Yep, the ideal— I mean, get that feedback to help you validate your plan. So that feedback can come from a consultant or someone who is an expert in whatever you want to try to validate, right? But here's the thing, in the business, when we try to apply this to growing our businesses and excelling in our careers, PricewaterhouseCoopers did a study in the early 2000s that they found that training alone had increased performance by 21%. And I could see that difference because in the early '90s I trained sales reps constantly. We just trained. But what they also found was when you combined training with coaching, they found that the members in the study, their performance improved by 88%. Oh wow. That's a big difference.

Yeah. That's a huge difference.

It is a huge difference. So if you think about, okay, if you, you know, you can pick up an online course in, I'm sure, virtually every subject. So that's going to be good, right? So there's good, better, best. So it's that, hey, you're going to, if you're along those statistics, you're going to see a 21% improvement. But if you really want to see a great improvement, combine that with coaching and get that expert feedback because you need that course correction. You know, you need that guidance, someone to say, okay, we taught you the strategy, but, you know, here's where you need to tweak it. And that's the 88% difference.

I'll take that difference. Absolutely. Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, I mean, really think about it. Right? It's that, yeah, if you show up to any event, whether it's, you know, whether it's your kid showing up to an audition for something and they didn't have any preparation, of course they're not going to be confident, you know? Absolutely. Right. But if you give them that coaching and training, just like you give yourself coaching and training, you're going to show up a whole lot more confident.

Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. A couple things, everyone, before I ask her to— share with you what she has free with— for you. I do want you to go to paramountbusinesscoach.com and be sure to check out her library of free sales and marketing checklists. Sign up, do what you need to do, because again, she has the tools and the training, and she happens to be one of the top business growth experts and coaches. So be sure to check that out, and also check out her powerbizacademy.com. You can start creating your dream business right along with her guidance, with her help. It will help you move quickly through the 3 core pillars of growing your business, which is marketing, sales, and hiring. You'll receive expert coaching and accountability with her in our weekly mastermind group calls, and plus a whole lot more. But I'm going to have you take the opportunity to go and go to PowerBizAcademy.com. Her enrollment is actually full; however, you can get put on the waitlist so you'll receive the bonus training on how to find your wow factor and be on that waitlist so when she does have an opening she can reach out to you and have you come into the fold, so to speak. But I want to get to— and we only have a minute or so— but I want to get to to the free gift that you have for our listeners. Could you share some information regarding that?

Yeah, sure, absolutely. This gift is going to help you validate your business model. I have a simple one-page strategic plan template. It's easy. You can just fill in the blanks pretty quickly, but it makes you really think about all the different areas that you want to have as far as your business plan, your strategic plan. The strategic plan template also comes with a 20-page 20-minute free video training. So you can get that on my main coaching website, which is paramountbusinesscoach.com, and that will get you started with fleshing out your business model.

And remember, step 3, that's step 3, everybody, of her 4-step fear-fighting formula, everybody. So paramountbusinesscoach.com, be there, be square. What is the best What's the best way for people to connect with you?

They can shoot me an email. Actually, it's yoon, Y-O-O-N, yoon@paramountbusinesscoach.com. I would love to hear what's holding your listeners back, and if I can help people to achieve, get over your fears and help you achieve your goals, that's what motivates me. So, yeah, shoot me an email.

She's going to help you become a rock star, everybody. Woo-hoo! Eun, thank you so much for joining the program. This has been fabulous. Power-packed. I mean, I took like 3 pages worth of notes. Power-packed. I so appreciate it, and I know our listeners will as well.

Well, I appreciate you having me on the show, Bernadette Boas.

Oh, you are so welcome. And a reminder, everybody, like I said, we've got some great additional experts coming up in the coming weeks. Gleb Sapirsky. Kuburski is going to teach— talk to you about decision-making, and then Ed Burdow is going to talk to you about negotiation. And then we wrap our— actually, we welcome in April, do you believe it, with our Ask Bernadette, where we take your questions, stories, and challenges, and we help you drill into those and provide you tips, advice, and sometimes, sometimes tough love. I want to thank our guests. I want to thank all of you for listening. And Deborah's been on the line and she's been out there tweeting with you. So for all of us here at Shedding the Bitch Radio, have a rich and prosperous week, and we'll talk to you right back here next Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Thanks everybody. Thanks, June.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. Boas. Join Bernadette every Tuesday at noon Eastern as she helps you shift your bitches to riches. And the dialogue is always going on at sheddingthebitch.com. See you next week.